The Observation Deck

I hate to sound like a ranting resident complaining about city services. I do love it here but get a bit crazy about the condition of our most visible park.

My church picnicked and worshipped at Lakewood Park this past Sunday and I was embarrassed over the state of the playground area.

- Many structures have loose pieces of timber/wood.
- Some areas have broken pieces.
- Most of the mats/rugs underneath the swings were exposed, distorted and hazardous.
- One section of three kiddy swings has no swings whatsoever, just the frame.
- Litter/garbage/trash is present throughout especially in the wooden boxes that surround certain trees.
- Mulch is needed. (All the trees Lakewood chops down and chews up and we can’t get the resulting mulch delivered to the playground?)
- Mud pits proliferate in the heavily used areas. (I know we’ve had a lot of rain, but, come on, this is what the mulch is for.)

I remember a lively OD discussion taking place last summer, I believe, regarding Lakewood Park’s playground area that implored the City to preserve this facility and, absent that, the possibility of developing a citizen group to do what is needed.

Can anyone provide updates? Thanks.

Madison Park is suffering the same sort of neglect, especially missing swings to go with the empty basketball hoop supports. If the big swings serve as teen congregation magnets the city does not wish to deal with, then maybe we need to install something else? Or take out the frames? It looks like crap to have an empty swing frame there. It's a shame.

David Anderson wrote:- Litter/garbage/trash is present throughout especially in the wooden boxes that surround certain trees.

With all due respect... PICK IT UP.

Alright one problem solved. Any ideas on how to handle the others?

I was at Foster Pool today and saw a large truck and several workers spreading mulch in the playground. I do not know of the status of any of the playground groups that were formed last year.

http://www.caring4kidscove.com/

Started by Joe Whisman, and Holly.

Not sure where it is at, or what is going on.



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Thanks for the insightful reply, Jim DeVito. "With all due respect," however, I don’t think your idea of having parents pick up the trash is very strategic – and yes, even with three kids running around the playground, I was picking up what I could.

I suppose if someone posted that the garbage wasn’t picked up from their tree lawn and driveway on the appointed day over a period of time your response would be for that individual to “PICK IT UPâ€￾ and find a dumpster somewhere.

Why ask that anyone be held responsible for anything?

A Lakewood employee drive a city truck drove down my street this morning at 7:00 towing a big industrial wood chipper. I’m sure he was headed for a worksite but what’s he going to do with the chips?

Speaking of picking up trash, I have seen an older gentleman and his wife walking their dog (looks like a black bouvier) up and down Lake Ave near Cook in the mornings. He walks with a bag and trash tongs.

I love that guy. He is awesome for doing that...and I've seen him doing it alot. Now... if he was just allowed IN the park with his dog, we wouldnt have this problem!!!

So what are the options for this issue of poor conditions in a park which is limited on funds? My guess is that while it would be politically favorable to make it a priority, it's a tough case to make when it means taking away something else. So what are the other suggestions? There was a grassroots effort by Joe Whisman and Holly last year to save the Kid's Cove and there is the group called Friends of Madison Park. Do these efforts make a sizable dent in the issue? We could privatize it and sell out. I'm sure that Red Bull or Gatorade or Bud Light would love to see their logo plastered all over a Beach Volleyball tournament at what are in my opinion the most neglected, underappreciated sand courts ever to be wasted on a Lake view location. But, ordinance says no alcohol and while that may be a good thing, this is a matter of balancing the demands of the public with what the community wants to consider acceptable.
In the end this is a purely economic question. How do you put a price tag on a park. Don't get me wrong I think that there is a strong case to be made for Lakewood having great local parks but who should pay the bill? How do other cities do it? From what I understand Bay Village has a park that was built through an endowment. As I heard it, the reason this park does not offer programs on Sundays is because the women was very religious and did not think it proper. But what about other parks? How do they stay in good condition? Should we be looking to Non-profits volunteer organizations, private corporations seeking sponsorship opportunities, tax dollars (which are already an example of imbalance based on the makeup of our city).
So what is the creative solution? Are there ways that these parks can generate income? Could little links be converted to a batting cage which would make more sense in that location than most other things and at $1/10 pitches may be a profitable endeavor. Could Usher field build a mini-terrace club with a deck on the right field fence with umbrella tables and a simple grill serving hot dogs and sodas? Then there's the entire Green movement. Could our parks be a testing ground for environmentally sustainable techniques. Essentially 15 acres of promotional materials on why you should use 7th generation fertilizer on your own yard. Is there a way to mobilize the workforce that we have? St Ed's and H20 do alot of community service. Would it be possible to shift this to volunteers? What message does that send that not only can you adopt a spot but since the city can't maintain it, now entire parks are adopted? Does the message matter so long as the results are there? Is there a vocational program that is hidden in here somewhere that West Shore vocational can get involved with? Or as one genius plan proposed, do we sell off 7 acres of park to get back 1 acre of green space?

I don't know much of how city government handle these situations or how budgets are set, but I often wonder how hard is it to do the simple maintenance of some of these parks.

I have been to (2) of the smaller parks recently and they were not in good shape but I think that could easily be remedied for little cost and little time. I mean the city can spend 5 bucks on some Roundup and spray the weeds growing on the tennis courts and side-walks, get a broom and quickly sweep the same... etc. Maybe I am over simplifying but it doesn't seem like it should be a problem... yet without this done it makes Lakewood look shoddy.

Sea levels rising? All due respect, grab a bucket. Problem solved!

Crime? All due respect, become Batman. Problem solved!

Math scores at local schools low? All due respect, engage some local teens in conversations on Russell's Paradox to get them interested in math again. Problem solved!

As soon as we get everyone to do their own plumbing, carpentry, electrical work, and presumably growing all their food in backyard farms, we won't need any social constructs to solve problems. Interesting.

Shawn Juris wrote:Or as one genius plan proposed, do we sell off 7 acres of park to get back 1 acre of green space?

Lakewood has twice hired a company to sell signage in the parks. No luck.

I remember correctly, many of the Park people were also being used for other things, Crossing guards, signs, etc. Also we have been given the section of I-90 to mow and take care of.(Speed Trap would offset this cost).

I also thought some "genius" thought of building two large high rises at the front of the park, which would leave the park behind it.

Or as another "genius" mentioned. Build the Pennisula, or sell of Lakewood Park and open Clifton Beach to residents. This would be LEGAL use of eminent domain, and add at least 10% value to everyone's home, while given Lakewoodites access to the Lake. Might as well grab the Silver Coast for parking, as well.

A lot of options out there.


FWIW

Jerry Ritcey wrote:
Crime? All due respect, become Batman. Problem solved!

Jerry,

That’s a good one. My whole point behind saying what I said was that it does not take much time to do the right thing in the case of trash in the parks. After all that trash is not put there buy the city. It is put there by people who want to disrespect the city and therefore disrespect you and I. When you are in a park and you see a piece of trash on the ground then please show everybody who does not care about the city that you in fact do. Than after you pick up that piece of trash record how much time you spent doing that and send an invoice to the city. Perhaps the onslaught of invoices will have two effects. The parks will be cleaner and maybe the city will realize there are a lot of people out there who would like clean parks.

I totally get the sentiment behind what you are saying, Jim. But sometimes, you know, it gets tiring and annoying having to clean up after other people. Yeah, it is the right thing to do, but so is not littering. And it gets upsetting to those folks who are not pigs to have to clean up behind those that are. It just makes you wish that others shared the same values and didn't crap up public spaces with their trash.

The skatepark has it's own trash problems. The amount of people (mainly teenagers) that pass through in a day is about 150 to 200. I have never seen any park staff pick up trash there and they simply empty the single trash can when it gets full. I know they must clean it some time, but between those times it is left to the users to keep it clean.

There has been an unspoken policy where if the skaters clean up the trash by 8pm, we may get an extra 15 to 30 minutes of skate time (normally they kill the lights and lock the gate at 9pm). This works as long as the skaters that day know of the unspoken policy and the park guy on duty is playing along. But each year, a new crop of kids join the ranks and don't know about this. Plus many skaters are from out of town and while they might pick up their own trash, they don't go around cleaning up other people's.

As a kid, I was a groundskeeper at our ball diamonds. Normally, there was not too much to pick up. Only after a game the night before would there be trash that needed attention. The skatepark and kids cove is like having a ball game every single day - 7 days a week.

Believe it or not - the trash you see out at the skatepark and at Kids Cove is probably only about 3-4 hours old. There is just that much usage. If the unspoken policy of the skatepark was made official and we could actually print a sign - "Pick up all trash by 8PM and skate until 10pm!" you would have no problem ending each day with a pristine skatepark. The tennis courts are lit until 11pm - regardless of the trash that gets left there. But the skatepark shuts down at 9pm sharp.

If Kids Cove could have a similar policy - lock up the swings and bar the slides until all trash is picked up. A handful of kids/parents would get the idea over time and pass the word around ( ie to their kids). I am only half kidding here. Non-profits and "friends of XYZ" will only get so far. The people that benefit from the existence of the park should keep it clean. Posting a sign that says "clean up your trash" is not enough. "Clean up your trash or lose your park for a half day" might be more effective.

Just throwing it out there.

Valerie:

I have found that the best way to convert a 13 year old away from littering is actually to have them help pick up other people's trash. I will just ask a random kid to help me. But usually I don't have to ask at all. If someone just starts picking it up in a very conspicuous manner - the other park patrons will see this. If that someone is wearing an orange 'Lakewood Parks' t-shirt or a "Friends of Kids Cove" t-shirt - it just makes kids think that...

a. You aren't qualified to handle trash yourself.
b. This is someone else's job.

So everyone PLEASE pick up trash when the MOST people are watching. Don't make a secret club of park cleaning. Don't wait till "clean up day". It absolves the users from gaining an understanding. Clubs and park staff cleanup are in the "give a man a fish" meme.

Seems to me if the refuse department could figure out an effective, efficient, sensible way to pick up the trash during holiday weeks, we'd have the people and money to maintain the parks.

Case in point - this past week, the refuse dept decided to have Wed be the trash day for Richland (it is normally Thursday). Unfortunately, they failed to tell anyone. ------ Please don't respond that it is listed on the back of the water bill. Here's a newsflash - WE DON"T READ THE BACK OF THE WATER BILL - WE PAY THE WATER BILL.

Anyway, they spent all day Wed going up and down the street picking up the garbage -due to the high volume of calls they received from complaining residents. And then, they came here on Thursday - the regular day - to get all of the people who were working on Wednesday. Now really - how inefficient can we get????? Two days to pickup the garbage on one street?

How about leaving the schedule the way it is and having the streets whose garbage pickup is the day of the holiday get picked up on the following business day? Gosh, that's probably too easy.

I believe that if the powers that be want to solve these problems they can and will. Until then, . . . .